It’s semifinal day at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, where Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud are making their debuts. Alcaraz is facing Andrey Rublev, while Ruud is going up against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
(1) Carlos Alcaraz vs. (4) Andrey Rublev
The Mubadala World Tennis Championship is the most prestigious of offseason exhibition tournaments and the championship matchup for 2022 will be determined by the end of Saturday. It’s semifinal Saturday in Abu Dhabi, where Alcaraz is following up an opening bye when he runs into Rublev. Only Alcaraz and Casper Ruud earned byes as the top two seeds, so Rublev took the court on Friday and defeated Borna Coric 7-6(4), 6-4.
Although Alcaraz was the breakout star of this past season and won the U.S. Open on his way to No. 1 in the world, it ended on a down note by missing the Nitto ATP Finals because of an abdominal injury. Rublev, on the other hand, turned in a stellar fall swing that included a semifinal appearance in Turin. With more momentum under his belt thanks to Friday’s win over Coric, the eighth-ranked Russian may be able to take advantage of a rusty Alcaraz.
Pick: Rublev in 3
(2) Casper Ruud vs. (3) Stefanos Tsitsipas
Outside of Alcaraz, Ruud was the most surprising story of the 2022 ATP campaign. The 23-year-old Norwegian finished runner-up to Alcaraz at both the U.S. Open and the Miami Masters and he also lost to Rafael Nadal in the French Open title match. Final appearances at huge tournaments were the norm for Ruud, who finished runner-up to Novak Djokovic at the Nitto ATP Finals.
Tsitsipas, though, is a formidable foe. The fourth-ranked Greek is 2-1 lifetime against Ruud and his fall swing featured two finals (Astana and Stockholm) and a semifinal (lost to Djokovic in Paris) prior to a round-robin exit at the Nitto ATP Finals. Like Rublev, Tsitsipas should benefit from having already played a match this week–he defeated Cameron Norrie 6-1, 6-4 on Friday. Moreover, Ruud is not as well-rested because spent some of his offseason grinding away on an exhibition tour of South America and Mexico with Rafael Nadal. Tsitsipas should have the edge on Saturday.
Pick: Tsitsipas in 3
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